The Princes in the Tower
by Clepsydra-Delphinus
Summary: In which Lucius Malfoy creates a heaven, Hogwarts creates a hell and Albus Dumbledore sends Harry and Draco there.


Author: Clepsydra Delphinus.

Email: watersnake@email.com

Rating: PG. 

Summary: In which Lucius creates heaven, Hogwarts creates hell and Dumbledore sends them Harry and Draco there. 

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Authors Note: This fic is dedicated to Hanacandi, written for her birthday and to honour a girl who writes the best damn mandrake smut you have ever seen. Worship her. 

This fic is AU, and vaguely, but not technically slash. It does contain cute boy snugglage though. Many thanks to Light_Iniquity for the beta. She rocks also.

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The Princes in the Tower.

Warm and happy, two boys nestled together. The pleasant peach light made them drowsy and calm. They held each other's hands and rubbed their silky clean heads together. They talked in their own language and smiled through each other's eyes. Lucius watched. A smile spread across his face. He liked watching his boys. It was relaxing in the way that watching fish in a tank was relaxing. A peaceful happy world without any of the problems of the reality. It also served a purpose. He watched his time bomb and sighed; it was so perfect.

"Sir, we have some information from Severus; Harry Potter is alive!"

The headmaster's weary blue eyes fixed on the excited young ministry worker who had just bounded into his office without so much as a knock. He looked like an eager puppy, bouncing on the balls of his feet and his bright eyes shining. If he had a tail it would be wagging.

"Young man, I have searched high and low for Harry Potter over the past ten years. He is dead."

"No! Sir, listen, Severus has been working with the Death Eaters to try and flush out the rest of them! He's se...."

Albus quietened the man with a wave of his hand.

"I know what Severus has been working on. I know all the rumours about Harry. I have spent the past ten years believing them. There are no more Potters."

"Malfoy has him!"

Dumbledore looked up, hope barely onto his face; he didn't quite dare to believe it.

"What?"

"He's Lucius's son's playmate."

"Oh." Albus sounded disappointed. The young Ministry worker's face fell. He'd thought he'd be the bearer of glad tidings. He'd not expected to bring bad news.

"Sir...?"

Albus Dumbledore stood up; as he did so the young ministry worker got the impression that an old machine was starting up again after many years. He smiled in relief. Albus Dumbldore had been a formidable force when he was in his prime.

"Call the Ministry. I want as many men as they have assembled. Tell them nothing."

"Yes sir!"

"Oh and boy...get an ambulance from St Mungo's on call too. We might need it."

The ministry official saluted and tried to Apparate. It didn't work. He blushed crimson and used the fireplace to floo out to Hogsmeade. Albus sighed and shook his head.

"Lucius Malfoy, what have you done to them?"

It was a genuine question. Malfoy was a subtle man. He didn't object to waiting for his plans to ripen. He relished it if he could ruin more than one life in his plans. One could not guess Lucius Malfoy's plans until after they had been executed, even then it was often hard to figure them out. Malfoy's sheer ruthlessness meant that it would be entirely possible that his own son would be involved in the scheme. 

Albus sighed again.

"What has he done?" 

Albus Dumbledore walked on to the stage in front of the largest Auror army the Ministry could offer. They all were running their fingers over their wands menacingly. Looking up at Dumbledore with respect and a grave anticipation of what they were about to do.

" We cannot give Lucius Malfoy any warning. Half of you are to floo in, the other half shall Apparate. You have a five second window of time in which to arrive; after that, the Malfoy estate will be shut down. We can't risk him escaping with those boys. If you find Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy, you guard the room and let no one in or out. Any questions? In that case, good luck."

The Aurors turned and made their way to the departure room; exchanging grave glances. Lucius Malfoy was one of the most powerful ex Death Eaters. It had been years since anyone from the ministry that wasn't also an Ex-Death Eater had gone in. Fudge had been surprisingly unwilling to give search warrants. Even if they didn't find Harry Potter, they were sure to find something to make their raids worth while. Long rows of fireplaces and Portkeys lined the walls. There was a grim excitement as all the Aurors took their positions ready to go. A stern faced official looked at his stopwatch. He gave a grim nod to a woman with a clipboard before blowing a whistle. In a flurry of activity the Aurors left.

Harry lay stretched out on his stomach. Long black curls fell over his face. He was fascinated by the pictures in the book, the way they interacted with him. They were smiley and happy. He didn't like the bad people, The wicked queens and stepmothers.

Draco, on the other hand, was bored. He'd plaited the front of his fluffy white hair and scribbled all over all their drawing paper and he now decided to disturb Harry. He lay down on the floor next to Harry and blew the hair out of his face. Harry looked up from his book, frowned at Draco, and carried on reading. Draco was hurt; he wasn't used to being ignored. He hit Harry on the shoulder. Harry looked up from the book. He rubbed his shoulder, shuffled over to a corner and curled up there, looking hurt. Draco's conscience admonished him. He hadn't meant to hurt Harry, just force him to pay attention. He shuffled over to the corner next to Harry. Harry gave him a wide-eyed tear look. Draco put his arm around Harry and rubbed his shoulder. Harry rested his head against Draco's shoulder and nuzzled. Draco smiled and leaned his head down and planted a small kiss on the top of Harry's head. They both let out small noises of contentment, like kittens purring.

"Sorry I hurt you, Harry."

"It's okay, Draco, I love you," Harry responded in a small voice and hugged Draco's chest tightly. Draco smiled happily.

"I love you too!"

Harry clapped his hands happily and broke away from the hug with a small peck to Draco's cheek.

"Want to play pirates? Like in Peter Pan?" chirped Harry, grasping a pencil like Captain Hook did in his books. Draco reached and brandished a pencil too.

"Sure!" He bounced enthusiastically causing the messy plaits he had put in his fringe to bang against his head.

"I'll be Peter Pan!" Chirped Draco, standing up and going to the middle of the room. 

Harry pouted furiously at this.

"Be Hook? I want to be Peter Pan! Please, Draco?"

Draco sat down on the floor and pouted. Harry looked pleadingly at him.

"But you're always Peter Pan." Whined Draco. 

Harry nodded uncomfortably and looked at the floor. Draco scowled and stood up again.

"Fine, but next time I get to be Peter Pan alright?" Harry grinned and nodded happily. An energetic pencil fight followed.

Albus Dumbledore arrived outside the Malfoy manor with a slight shimmer in the air. The Aurors saluted him as he walked straight through the gates and into the house. He was met by Cornelius Fudge at the main door, who was rocking back and forth looking exceptionally pleased with himself. 

"Ah! Albus, good to see you, good to see you old chap! Have you heard? We've found Harry Potter! He's just in here, he seems perfectly happy and ermphysically healthy at least." A fleeting look of disgust crossed his face for a moment. He lead(led) Dumbledore to a room with a glass panel in the middle of the floor. It looked down into a white padded room, with a pile of blankets in the corner; books and paper scattered round and a tiny bathroom. In the middle were two boys, both roughly the same size, both skinny but obviously not malnourished and were sword fighting with pencils. Soon into the game the pencils were discarded and the fight became a tickling match. Fudge looked up from the boys and smiled at Albus in a smug fashion.

"See? Perfectly fine. No harm done, just like I knew it would be. I'll just be going now. Need to make press releases and all that." With a pat of his lime-green bowler hat and a swish of his pinstriped cloak, Fudge bumbled out of the door. Albus stood and looked down at the boys. They seemed happy He felt something stir at the back of his mind but he couldn't pin it down. He stroked his beard for a moment before turning to an Auror who was standing in the doorway trying to looking menacing.

"Have you apprehended Lucius Malfoy yet?" The Auror looked pleased that he was being spoken to by the spiritual leader of the fight against Voldemort.

"Yes sir!" He replied with a salute. Albus nodded slowly at the Auror.

"Take me to him."

Lucius Malfoy was tied to a chair, surrounded by Aurors, and still looking like a king surveying his court.

"Ah, Dumbledore(), forgive me if I don't get up but, I appear to be a little tied up at the moment." Dumbledore favoured him with a wry smile, conjured up a chair and sat opposite Lucius.

"Mr Malfoy, why did you keep Harry and Draco prisoners."

"Harry and Draco are happy. They have never wanted to leave their room."

Malfoy smiled coolly at Dumbledore. Albus's mind raced around his head. He maintained his calm gaze and tried to make it as piercing as possible. Lucius's smile became a smirk and the smirk became more and more smug.

"Mr Malfoy, you and I both know that there is something about that room, something will happen if we try to release them." 

"Correct, Professor."

"Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me what?"

"Is there any chance that I will see the light of day again after the trial?"

"It's very unlikely, Mr Malfoy. This convicts you of all the Death Eating charges that were placed against you."

Lucius leaned backwards. He ran his tongue over his teeth and seemed to contemplate the conundrum.

"Hmmm... should I? Perhaps that would spoil all the fun."

Dumbledore fixed his eyes firmly on Lucius and continued to look him in the eye till he responded.

"I suppose I could warn you. It's rather amusing and I do so want to see your face when you realise what I've done."

"Tell me."

Dumbledore looked solemnly into Lucius Malfoy's laughing eyes. Dumbledore worried. It had to be horrible. The room felt cold around him as he steeled himself for the worst that Lucius Malfoy could throw at him.

"I don't believe I shall. You'll figure it out Albus. You're an intelligent man."

As Albus left the room he heard the guards on the door whisper to each other. 

"I'll tell you what he's done, he's turned them both into a pair of poofters, that's what he's done." 

Dumbledore watched the boys play. He watched as they chased each other around the room, as they crawled into the pile of blankets and they tucked each other in. As they nestled together when they were alarmed by an Auror stepping on the ceiling above them. They immediately became playful, though, and started playing at being stamping monsters. 

"Sir, we've scanned the area, there's no spell, booby trap or delayed curse. It's clear sir. No magic has been used on that room, ever."

"Never?"

"Never sir."

Harry was gazing intently at the ceiling. Draco was getting bored with being ignored. Harry had always been quiet and thoughtful; Draco, though naturally impetuous had learned to leave Harry a few moments when he was deep in thought. A few moments was fine, but a few hours Draco had looked; the ceiling wasn't that interesting.

"Harry?"

"Something's happened."

"What?"

"Something's happening up there. Lucius won't come back. He's gone. I can just feel it."

Harry knew these things. He always had. He found patterns and saw changes in them. Harry was special. Draco loved Harry more than anything else in the world, he was special, he was amazingly calm and clever, and, he was he only thing Draco had never known. Harry was his entire world. It never occurred to Draco as a concept, merely because the only world he had known was Harry.

"Draco...what's happening?"

For the first time in his life the room started to feel like a room rather than a world. He wanted to know what was going on around them, who stamped on the ceiling, who made the banging noises on the walls. He wanted to see what ever was out there. The room which had been freedom became a prison. The curiosity was getting to them all. Draco could see that Harry was itching to get out and see what was there. 

Harry began pacing the room, Draco sat down and ran his hands through his hair. Their breath and voices in muttering in time 

"No, no, no, no, no, no....." before finally reaching a peak with Draco letting out a loud scream of anguish. Harry ran to him and put his arms around him, smoothing the snow white hair and whispering softly into his ear.

Albus watched the distress of the boys, he turned to the staff around him and looked solemnly at them. He ignored the curled lips and sneering eyes watching the window.

"We need to let them out. They seem distressed. It would be cruel to keep them there any longer." 

Draco was now striding across the room, clawing at the walls, fighting to get out. Harry was sitting, pulling at his hair, looking completely out of control. Dumbledore could feel the tension building in that room. The longer it took him to break it, the worse it was for the boys.

"I'm going in now."

Albus walked slowly down to the room, it was vital that he remained calm and serene. They boys needed to trust that he was benevolent.

The door had a small hole above the handle. Albus pressed the tip of his wand into it for a moment and allowing the door to creak open slowly.

It was odd, to actually see the boys up close to see them as human beings from a normal level; it was even odder to enter their world. Two pairs of eyes gazed up at him: wide emerald green and slim graphite grey. Albus stood there for a few moments, allowing them all to take each other in. Harry was looked at him with awe; Draco seemed calculating. Albus smiled at them both warmly and extended a hand to each of them. Harry took it without question. Draco squinted thoughtfully; he shot a glance at Harry before reaching out to take the hand.

"Harry, I hate it here. Living hurts, it's like I'm forcing myself to live each moment, and when I've lived it, there's another one to survive. An eternity of moments I have to struggle through and I can't do it."

Harry said nothing. He was sitting looking at the wall, tears streaming down his face and his arm around Draco. Draco snuggled closer to Harry, feeling the warmth coming through the cotton pyjamas.

They weren't supposed to be out in the middle of the night, let alone in a classroom, but they now lived in separate dormitories and they missed each other. The other boys didn't understand. 

Harry and Draco had been given a crash course in hatred, disgust, fear and mockery from their dormmates. The constant "Where's you little bum chum?" s and "little poofs." had worn them down, leaving them drained and completely empty.

They had been thrown into a world where boys didn't touch each other, where there were girls and everyone was supposed to fancy them, where loving anyone left your heart open, ready for it to be torn apart. Two boys who walked around hand in hand, snow faced and transparent as children had just been a walking target for the school's population.

"We have to go."

Harry looked at Draco, alarmed.

"We can't."

I can't take this world. Come with me! Let's leave this world together. End our suffering. Harry...it's only ever going to get harder for us."

Draco held out a small vial of sanguine fluid, marked with a skull and crossbones in the potion master's hand. Harry smiled, and there was relief in his smile. He kissed Draco on the lips, softly and fluidly, a perfect continuation of a love so deep and a joining of souls so thorough that one could barely even see the join anymore. A bitter-sweet feeling of knowing that this was the last thing they'd do alive and it made them happier. No more fighting on for an eternity. 

The next morning, Albus found Harry and Draco on the stone floor of the Charms classroom, curled together, black and white hair mingling, hands clasped together and hearts intertwined. They were smiling.


End file.
